In many industrial operations it is necessary to transmit large volumes of liquid from one location to another. To accomplish this task it is generally expedient to utilize a rigid-walled transmission tube and transmit under pressure the liquid through the tube. Such a tube should be stably secured to a support structure such as a steel beam of a building wherein the tube is situated. To attain such stable securement, multiple vibration absorbing isolation clamps must generally be utilized. The isolation clamps previously known in the art provide securement to the support structure, diminish vibration transmittance to the support structure, and may substantially satisfy longitudinal forces generated by thermal expansion of the tube. However, these clamps do not effectuate reduction upon structures in communication with the tube of side to side forces generated by thermal expansion of the tube as the tube heats due to transmission therein of liquid. Such side to side forces are therefore transmitted to those structures such as compressors in communication with the tube and can cause damage to said structures, and, if of great enough magnitude, can cause misalignment of the tube or rupture of the tube.
The vibration absorbing transmission tube isolation clamp disclosed herein, while also utilizing vibration absorbing material and also substantially satisfying longitudinal forces generated by thermal expansion of the tube, additionally effectuates reduction of transmittance of side to side forces generated by thermal expansion of the tube by permitting the tube being secured to move from side to side within limits defined by elongated openings which permit side to side movement of the clamp itself on the shafts of bolts holding the clamp to the support structure. Such movement thereby reduces the transmittance of side to side forces upon structures in communication with the tube by substantially satisfying these forces at the clamp site instead of transmitting these forces to the site of the communicating structures.